Has anyone noticed the recent spate of "Thanks for sharing," comments on deals?

Oct 24, 2012 10:38 AM

Over the last few days I've noticed several new accounts have been all over the place making the same general comments:
"thanks for sharing,"
"Thanks for taking time to share this deal which works for me. Save 25% on Cosumes!"
"Save 25%, sounds nice!"
"Just for $4.61. Nice price here."
"16GB is acceptable for me. Got mine!"
"A nice deal which works for me. Thanks OP!"

All the accounts were made this month. No deals added, no woots purchased, and nothing overtly wrong with the comments, but something about them is setting off warning bells. I know it sounds odd, but I get this "wait...what was that sound?" feeling about them. Kind of like that one antelope in the herd that picks its head up and senses the lions in the grass.

Am I being paranoid or do we have interlopers from a mysterious land with nefarious plans in our midst?

@1298ty: I was thinking the same thing. Several of the examples show that the person making the post actually read the deal and included some detail about it in their post. It doesn't seem to me like they've done anything wrong. Posting comments just to up one's rep probably isn't the best way someone could use their time, but the rep calculator encourages just this behavior.

@inkycatz: Woot has the technology. (BTW, the wine shipment I was whining about over on wine dot finally showed up yesterday and was cool to the touch. Looks good. Just waiting until Friday to give a few days to sit before cracking one open.)

@1298ty: It's possible, but doubtful, especially as a good portion of the comments make it appear as if they have taken advantage of the deal, even one based in the States.

@Thunderthighs: does woot have the capability to know where accounts like these originate?

@lavikinga: Thank you for the update (or should I have said "thanks for sharing")! I have been following your wine saga, actually and hope it turns out tasty and trouble free on Friday (seriously, is it Friday yet? WHY NOT).

I got several of these posts, and assumed they were either socks or just newbies. A few used questionable grammar, but all were polite and harmless. I saw no reason to report them. Again, harmless. I hate the ones who spam the comments and always report those.

What I found more interesting yesterday was that a single individual downvoted every post I made over the previous 24 hours. I was skimming through the positive possible sock comments and discovered a spate of nearly identical negative comments on my posted deals. I checked on the poster and found that, although he was a long-time member, he had never posted a deal, had only upvoted 5 deals, but had downvoted about 30, including 15 consecutive deals that I had posted. During the downvoting of my deals he had not voted on anything else. I have to admit that I felt somewhat stalked. I decided to blow it off unless it happened again, and probably shouldn't have hijacked this topic to mention it, but there it is. /vent

@belyndag: "I have to admit that I felt somewhat stalked."
People need to stop being creepy like that. Upon that day, a fleet of flying ponies will arrive at my desk though, because heeeeeey internets. :(

I, too, noticed 'thank you type' posts on 2 of my deals. They were refreshing... as opposed to those that say, "Bad deal! You can get this for zero dollars @ X place & they'll deliver it in a limo." JK ;-)

Saw the nice posts in the emails. When I went to the deals, they had been deleted. Did not know why...still unsure. :-/

@lavikinga: Wait! I must agree that socks 'can' be sneaky, but you are wrongly accusing them when they disappear in the laundry! It's the washing machines - they EAT the socks!! They really DO - that is one thing that is NOT the socks' fault. When our washer broke we had a repairman come out and he showed me - I saw it with my own eyes - the problem was that the washer had indegestion, because deep down in the washer's belly (motor), there were a couple of socks the washer had EATEN!
So please, you can accuse the socks of all the sneaky things they really do do (doodoo?, lol), but please don't accuse them of disappearing in the laundry because that is absolutely, positively NOT their fault.

Lol, I couldn't resist when I saw the "socks" comments ;)
~Sharon

Edit: I guess I need to start posting more often - then maybe I'll figure it out again. I tried [b]bolding[/b] and [i] italicizIng [\i] with the slashes both directions and with & without spaces, but nothing I tried worked. Idk!!

@belyndag: Sounds like you've stepped on someone's toes. Been in any really good pissing matches lately? You're not the only one around here that has a negative wootstalker.
What's weird is the upvote/downvote ratio of your hater. I was under the impression we earn the ability for downvoting by casting a certain amount of upvotes and it wasn't a 1 to 1 ratio either.

@michaels1715: Even giant boy socks? I have one of the darned eco-water saving machines (HATE IT! HATE IT! HATE IT!) that has no nooks/crannies for these giant socks to disappear into, but disappear they do.

Like I said, it's not like these comments are bad or shouldn't be made, but they just strike me as insincere and I have a hard time believing they're buying as much stuff as they say they are.

@lavikinga: Alright, I will admit, when the giant boy socks disappear in the laundry, USUALLY they are the ones being smeaky. Except for in the case of a super-capacity washer. THEY are guilty of not only eating all sizes of socks, but UNDERWEAR as well!!
Lol, my words would have been more effective had I figured out how to bold and italicize, but alas, I must run as I have a woot-off to attend, so no time to do so right now.

For the record, I agree with you. I am suspicious of such comments as well - it reminds me of the people that leave the fake reviews (I forget the word for them) on Amazon. Although, I do also have to agree that they are better than the nasty or not-so-nice comments. I am pretty sure they are not actually purchasing the deals, but are commenting with an ulterior motive, most likely with the belief that they will gain credibility. My latest thought is: maybe they shouldn't be reported - then we could keep an eye on them and figure out what they're really up to?

@moondrake: That's what I hoped. I was also hoping if and when I went to the Downvoting Darkside I would have a whopping pile of downvotes at my disposal. One of TPTB popped that little fantasy when he said those suckers have an expiration.

Socks are bad! They attack my poor Border Collie and then she has to retaliate by chewing on them. I'm sure she is just minding her own business and doing nothing to cause this to happen. After all, she is a perfect, little angel.

I used to monitor this one drug and alcohol treatment group and they would always say "thanks for sharing that". When I asked about it, I was told that this was their way of mocking one another while keeping it polite. Now I like to tell people thanks for sharing that, when I could care less what they told me.

@lavikinga - no need to feel guilty! It wasn't until after hearing other peoples' comments and thinking about it for a while did I even think about watching them to see what they were up to. Anyway, you're right - the mods know what they're doing. No worries. @moondrake Lol - true. Although my lint catcher always catches more dog hair than lint :)

I find it fairly simple to define "sock" for my own purposes. Commenting socks tend to have become members on the same day or within a day or two of the deal being posted, which means they haven't had time to receive any merchandise offered in the deal, and they generally have no other history here or on the other woot sites.

Posting socks also tend to have joined within the same week, usually post deals for only one site (without making any commercial connection to the site apparent), and often cross-compliment each other.

I'll continue questioning/tattling on socks when I feel there's sufficient evidence of their sockitude, just as I'll continue to leave "great deal!" comments when it's appropriate.

@barnabee - your Collie would get along great with my Lab (she's NOT actually a dog though! She's a girl!). Although, my Holly Berry Gold (aka "Holly", "HollyBear", or just plain "Bear") does not chew on socks - but whenever we get home and she's been by herself (for any length of time over 5 minutes), she gets SO excited that she must find a sock - and only a dirty sock will do - to hold in her mouth while she wiggles her whole body and whimpers, lol. When she begins to calm down, she then proceeds to drop the dirty sock & kiss us right in the face/mouth. If she can't find a sock during her moment of need, she has a meltdown on top of a meltdown, which is actually quite hilarious... Okay, I'll stop talking about my youngest child... Did I mention how so very, very much I love her? If socks make my girl so happy, then even the dirty, sneaky ones just can't be pure evil - there just has to be some good left in them - I just know it! (LOL!)

@belyndag: Thank you! "Shill" is the term I couldn't remember (I think) :)@jsimsace: THANK YOU SO MUCH I had forgotten all about the nice, easy asterisks! So much better than trying to get [i/]\b]... in the right format - for me at least :)
Also, I now know why your question (the one I just posted to - two months later, lol) showed on my front page - it's because to reply to you here, I touched your name, so was taken to your page rather than this page which I would have been directed to had I touched the title of the question. More of my rust shows! But look at how much your one little (yet BIG) reminder has helped me. Thank you again :D

@ecriscit - I've heard that sarcastic/polite expression a lot - although quite often shortened to "thanks for sharing" sometimes with a hint of a question in the tone and/or a raised eyebrow. I was going to say more, but I have said way too much already, so... I'll stop - as soon as I let you know that you "crawling back under your rock" got me laughing tonight - thanks for that :)
I think you all now see why I don't post often-I waste too much time with excessive details that very few people actually read, lol. Here's one everyone should though:I WISH EVERYONE A WONDERFUL EVENING
Goodnight all!
~Sharon

PS - PHEW! Sorry for so many comments! People like me (thank God there aren't many, lol) definitely do not like character limits!! And for the record, I'm officially complaining that the asterisks count as characters - IMO they should NOT. Okay, now I'm done - and you won't have to listen to me again for several months (hey! I heard that sigh of relief...; )

@lumpthar: LOL! Not to worry, dear. It wasn't you! But I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one raised to immediately feel guilty and apologize, even when I've done nothing wrong. Sorry about your attitude from work. I've been retired for three months now and STILL suffer from that problem!

@michaels1715: Your HollyBear must be related to my Lexie. She's a Shih Tzu with a sock fetish (although she will accept clean ones as well as dirty ones.) I once caught her going through the clean laundry and sneaking each sock out, one by one, and moving them to her kennel.

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